Game Review: Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (Xbox 360)

Though the series has always been unique, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom …

As a developer, it must be hard to constantly push new boundaries. Take the recently-released Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom. While the original entries in the series offered a unique combination of RTS and hack-and-slash elements, the developers opted to nix the RTS portions for a more straightforward action-RPG approach. The original titles have a more strategic feel; players micromanage units in tandem with fighting for themselves as a contributor to the greater battle. Circle of Doom drops those elements to focus solely on the main character's fighting, and that leaves the game feeling a little stale.

At the core of KuF:CoD is a fairly generic third-person, dungeon-crawling, loot-collecting, hack-and-slash game. The gameplay itself is standard, though there are some neat updates that make the action faster. Most action-RPGs are rather stingy with mana, forcing the player to choose wisely and use potions often. However, here the player's "mana" is constantly recharging at a rapid rate, and equipping different weapons and items will further speed up the regeneration. This comes with a cost, though, as even simple physical attacks will drain mana.

The game includes a relatively intricate equipment system that requires players to make tough decisions about what weapons and armor they want to use, especially since characters have the ability to carry two active weapons at a time. Oftentimes, using a lower level and weaker weapon with a stronger one is necessary to offset the mana costs. This strategic element is actually quite welcome, and it's one of the better points of the game. Sadly, outside of the menu, the game is as derivative a button-masher as there has been in recent memory. One-button attacks and a few dull spells are all you'll find.

Trying to make the action more endearing is the storyline. Though many of the series' trademark characters return, the overarching narrative of past games has been replaced with a strange dual-dimension construct. Essentially, you're playing through the game as a character in a "real" realm, where you'll kill monsters, complete quests, and hoard loot. At specific checkpoints, you'll be able to slip into the "dream" realm, where you can gather quests and speak to NPCs.

Unlike most hack-and-slash games, which would alternate between linear dungeons with town sequences, this dream world portions fail to work effectively. First, the linearity of the main game world is made all the more obvious by the fact that there are, literally, no breaks outside of a simple in-dungeon room that has the checkpoint NPC. Second, the dream world itself is incredibly convoluted and poorly designed, and trying to piece together the plot from the sparse amount of text becomes far more trouble than it's worth. Developer Blueside attempted to create a linear game with a non-linear story-telling device and failed.

Despite the complaints, not everything about the game is completely detestable. The presentation is attractive, though some aficionados may find that the game has too much "bloom" for their liking. Character models are well-detailed and animated for the most part, though the sheer diversity of weapons, costumes, and stances leads to some clipping issues here and there. However, the art style is unique and eye-catching. Parts of the game's musical score are definitely memorable in their own right, as well.

Likewise, the four-player co-op is a welcome feature and, as is often the case, is more enjoyable than the otherwise-boring single player. I hate to use the clichéd reference toDiablo, but it's a fair comparison: you and three friends can easily traverse the game's various dungeons, fighting mobs and each other for loot. Unfortunately, multiplayer is confined to online play only and still happens to take place in the same strictly linear and tiresome world.

What's really disappointing about Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is that the original games had something unique to offer and won many fans because of it. The complete abandoning of everything that made the previous games stand out hurts the title; though hardcore dungeon crawling fans may find a serviceable adventure within, there's little to enjoy aside from the co-op for the average gamer.